Legacy - Avatar: The Last Airbender Review

Greetings, Legacy community! Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. I've referenced this exact phrase in other articles probably more than once.

But now I can do it properly because today we're going to talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender, the most recent Magic: Universes Beyond set. Let's take a look!

As usual, our dear house judge Antônio Carlos compiled and explained the mechanics and rules in Avatar: The Last Airbender. You can check out more details here.

To sum up what my brilliant colleague stated in this article, two mechanics have returned: Exhaust and Lessons. Four new ones, one for each bending, were introduced: Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending.

Waterbending is a mix of Convoke and Improvise, which already see play in Legacy. Earthbending turns lands into creatures, but if that land dies, it returns to play tapped. That's particularly interesting with things like Wasteland and fetch lands.

Firebending seems the least interesting to Legacy because it relies on the combat phase. Airbending is a variation of Flicker (exiling and returning a card to the game), which also sees play in Legacy.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at the cards in this set that have potential in Legacy!

Airbender Ascension

As we mentioned above, a few decks in Legacy definitely enjoy flicker effects. Furthermore, getting the 4 quest counters and creating a loop with Ascension won't be that hard.

Appa, Steadfast Guardian

Appa's effect is quite strong, particularly in decks that play many triggered abilities. It does tax you 2 extra mana to return the cards, but it has Flash, so it is still great.

Curious Farm Animals

This is a Haywire Mite for white decks. It certainly has space.

Destined Confrontation

This card could be a way for white aggro decks to deal with big creatures and keep your own creatures with useful abilities in play at the same time.

Momo, Playful Pet

Momo is a cheap, evasive creature that creates value not only when it dies but also when it is exiled by Flicker effects.

Suki, Courageous Rescuer

In a Death & Taxes list, Suki will buff your team and create value from cards like Wasteland and other Flicker effects.

The Legend of Kuruk

A control deck could enjoy this card a lot. It creates value throughout two turns and then turns into a creature that can quickly fill your board with tokens. Exhaust is quite difficult to activate, but, with enough tokens, you can consider doing it.

The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan

Mechanist can fill the board with artifacts quite quickly, and we know more than one deck that would really enjoy that.

Secret of Bloodbending

Waterbending 10 is a lot, but in Artifact Blue lists, which can whip up a lot of artifacts, it could win the game on the spot. Mindslaver is absurdly strong, but it does cost 10 mana, so it probably won't have space in this case.

For 4 mana (and after a little help), who knows?

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

Wan Shi Tong is quite interesting. If you pay its base cost, it will already grow and give you cards whenever an opponent uses a fetch land or one of the many "search" effects in Legacy (Urza’s Saga, Green Sun’s Zenith, Stoneforge Mystic). As the game goes on, it will also become a way to spend leftover mana and get even more cards.

Waterbending Scroll

This card is a dream come true for every player who wanted a new control list like the Draw-Go lists in the past.

Mai, Scornful Striker

Mais is lethal against a few combo decks in Legacy, as they simply don't have enough life points to progress their game plan over her ability.

Fated Firepower

This card has Flash, so you can play it in quite unexpected moments. With an X equal to or higher than 2, it will also make cards like Grapeshot lethal.

Iroh’s Demonstration

Cards with this type of effect sometimes show up in sideboards in certain metas. This one is extra flexible.

The Legend of Roku

This card gives you a lot of cards, helps you pay for them on the following turn, and turns into a very respectable creature. I see potential.

Mai, Jaded Edge

This Mai will be great in decks that can activate Prowess and is lethal if her Exhaust ability resolves.

Redirect Lightning

Redirect Lightning is quite strong. It will be great on many spells, but it also hits abilities, which is what sets it apart from other cards. It will be able to stop decks like Oops by swapping the target of their creature abilities, buy you a turn by redirecting a Manifold Key, or force a Wasteland to target an enemy land.

This is what I consider to be the most relevant Avatar: The Last Airbender card for Legacy.

Zhao, the Moon Slayer

Forget the 7 mana ability, that's not why we're looking at this card. Zhao is a hatebear, a 2/2 evasive creature that basically delays the opponent by 1 or 2 turns. Decks like Humans or Burn could enjoy a card like this, that is, some cheap disruption that also puts pressure on the opponent.

Badgermole Cub

The idea is to use this card on lands like Wasteland or fetch lands to get a little bit more out of them, but you can also use it to create some mana. I think it has space in a few decks, like Maverick.

Aang, Swift Savior

Aang has everything Esper Vial has and also does something on drawn-out games.

Abandon Attachments

This effect is quite common in red, particularly for 2 mana. However, it is an instant, which is the first time… and that could make a difference.

Barrels of Blasting Jelly

We can tutor this card with Urza's Saga. It will fix our mana, and eventually we can throw it at a creature.

Meteor Sword

This sword will be a new addition to Stoneforge Mystic's arsenal. It will also let our Artificer destroy lands!

Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong

6 mana to play and another mana to activate might seem nearly infinite in Legacy, but then let's remember Planar Nexus exists. There are many ways to manipulate the top of our deck in Legacy, and Big Mana lists could create a truckload of value with this artifact.

We could even play spells for free on the opponent's turn with this card and anything that Scries or Surveils, like Kozilek's Command or Surveil lands.

Agna Qel’a

This land can win battles of attrition, so it could be interesting in control decks.

Ba Sing Se

This card doesn't stand out for its earthbending but rather because it can bring it back after you use it once. I believe Lands could play at least one copy of it.

Realm of Koh

This card could see play in Smallpox decks as a way to win the scarce resources gameplay this deck promotes.

Legacy has had a tough year, and Avatar: The Last Airbender came right when it was transitioning into something else. Many of the most powerful decks lost their cards in the last banlist update and, as such, left a power vacuum in the meta. This set might be centered around Standard, but there's a lot in it that could interest us Legacy players, and I can't think of a better time for a new set to come along.

I'd bet Redirect Lightning and Wan Shi Tong, Librarian will be the most relevant cards, but I wouldn't be surprised if something else from the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe popped off.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!